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Adrienne Barbeau recalls 'Swamp Thing' as 'charming'

Adrienne Barbeau recalls starring in the movie "Swamp Thing," which made cinemas a little more nerd-friendly in 1982 by bringing the monstrous yet good-hearted protector of the green from the DC Comics pages to the big screen.

It's as cool to be in comic-book movies these days, as it was for Adrienne Barbeau back in the early 1980s.

Before The Avengers and a slew of Batman movies, 1982's Swamp Thing made the cinemas a little more nerd-friendly by bringing the monstrous yet good-hearted protector of the green from the DC Comics pages to the big screen.

Ray Wise played scientist Alec Holland in the movie, which gets an all-new Blu-ray edition out Tuesday. After Alec is mutated into the emerald creature by his secret formula to stop world hunger, the vegetable-looking superhero tussles with evil arch nemesis Anton Arcane (Louis Jourdan) in the Florida everglades and comes to the rescue of government agent Alice Cable (Barbeau).

Barbeau was not only a Hollywood sex symbol when she got the role — after starring on Maude and appearing on The Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Battle of the Network Stars in the 1970s — but also a name in the horror-movie world. She was then married to John Carpenter and had starred in his films The Fog and Escape from New York, and Carpenter gave Swamp Thing his seal of approval simply because it was being directed by up-and-comer Wes Craven.

In an interview on the new Blu-ray, Barbeau, 68, thought the script was so good that Swamp Thing could be another Star Wars. (Obviously, it didn't get two trilogies of movies but ol' Swampy did turn out to be a cult hit.)

"It was whimsical and charming and lovely," Barbeau says. I didn't see it as a horror film — I guess I don't see it as a horror film to this day, actually. It's Beauty and the Beast — it's more of a fantasy or fairy tale maybe in my mind."

In addition to a talk with the actress, the new Swamp Thing Blu-ray includes interviews with the character's comic-book co-creator Len Wein and actor Reggie Batts, as well as commentaries by Craven and makeup-effects artist Bill Munn.